


Demons

by sweetmusings



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Co-workers, Drama, Drama & Romance, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Trauma, Recovery, Redeemed Draco Malfoy, Romance, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 08:45:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18232589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetmusings/pseuds/sweetmusings
Summary: Hermione is far from okay. Can she be saved before she slips under? Furthermore, does she want to be? Inspired by Nikita Gill's 'Monsters'.





	Demons

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: This piece was written for the Dramione Fanfiction Writers Facebook group’s Never Apologising For Our Wild challenge. It was inspired by the poem below, which was my specific poem and prompt. I highly recommend you all go and read some of Nikita’s pieces, her pieces are lovely to read. A big thanks to Mrs.Ren for kindly giving me ideas for this piece and to MrsMast for beta-ing x

_The monsters were never_

_under my bed._

_Because the monsters_

_were inside my head._  

_I fear no monsters,_

_For no monster I see._

_Because all this time,_

_the monster has been me._

‘Monsters’ by Nikita Gill. 

 -------------------

Hermione sighed as she turned over in bed and glanced at the calendar stuck to her wall, it was now the middle of June. The date was of no significance. It was summer, and she felt anything but bright. Dull would be a much better description. Not forgetting fed up, stuck in a rut and oh so _broken._ But she blamed the war for that and her inner lioness for giving up when it seemed to really matter.

The war… she closed her eyes and burrowed further into her duvet. Maybe she could kill some hours with some more play-pretend if she let her imagination run free again? Stupid and oh so silly play-pretend…

Her thoughts were interrupted by her wand buzzing.

 _Shit, work!_ Hermione thought hurriedly as she climbed out of her bed and slung on some clothing for her job.

_How on earth had that slipped her mind?!_

She didn't really care for her work at the moment; she felt like each day was just her going through the motions. Pushing her unsavoury thoughts to one side, she glanced at herself in her bathroom mirror and held back a grimace. Only to then grimace anyway.

A strange woman greeted her. Dull brown hair - caught between sleek and curly - adorned her face and dark bags with bloodshot eyes were the most prominent features. Hermione was briefly thrown off guard to see the reflection shudder.

_Oh, wait..._

Sighing, she cast some glamour charms to hide the imperfections.

'Perfect’ she said dryly, almost wanting to laugh. And with that, she threw some floo powder into her fireplace, spoke her destination and _whooshed_ away.

Before she got out of the floo system at the Ministry she had made sure to occlude, it was important that she don her mask and have a neutral expression before anything else. Putting on smiles and warm greetings for her colleagues as always, she was satisfied no-one seemed to question anything. Hermione could only guess people were definitely fooled. Good.

'Good morning, Granger,’ came a deep voice from in front of her.

Glancing up she spotted Malfoy walking by, his paperwork in hand.

Merlin, Malfoy was actually being nice to her this morning. Normally the man didn't have a word to say to anyone until he'd downed several coffees and she couldn't see any on his person today.

'Oh yes.. good morning, Malfoy’. Hermione smiled back, only to be met with narrowed eyes. Confused, her thoughts began to wander.

Did she have something on her face? She didn't think so.

Glancing at him again, the narrowed eyes were now gone, replaced by a look of slight boredom.

'Don't work too hard now.’ He said as he walked by, obviously wanting to get to his office.

Shrugging at the exchange, she briefly felt her face - nothing was there. So what was that look all about?

_Well, that was... peculiar._

The shift went by peacefully for there had been nothing eventful happen, but Hermione still found herself feeling quite worn out as it came to a close.

Putting her papers to one side, she folded her arms on the table and rested her head on top.

Luna sighed as she filed some documents away. Muttering a few security-related charms once again, all of the items were keyed to her magical signature; no-one else could access them. Satisfied, she nodded to herself, shrugged her shoulders about to ease the tension that had accumulated.

Luna peered around the door to her colleague and friend's office, about to say something to the brunette when she settled her eyes on the still figure. Sighing, she absentmindedly fiddled with a loose strand of hair as her mind wandered.

Her findings across the past few months were worthy of a few pages of parchment yet she could vastly see that expanding even now. One thing was most apparent over; Hermione was not coping, and it seemed she was fast approaching her breaking point. Luna had lost track of occasions in which she’d spotted Hermione applying glamours to hide her red, puffy eyes. Including the bags, the pale complexion of hers.

Not to mention the times when Hermione looked to be driving herself to overexhaustion in her work, too.

Luna had been surprised most folks around her forgot she could see through glamours, but it was a well-honed talent of hers. It manifested around her ninth birthday, but she’d suspected it had always been there, the more she thought on it. It seemed that she had never thought to divulge this ability of hers to the other woman and in this case she was thankful.

Opting to go back to her desk, for now, Luna did just that; muttering here and there as she did so. Her colleagues chanced the odd glance in her direction but she paid them no mind at the moment; her carrot earrings bobbing about with every step she took.

It was only a matter of time until Hermione finally slipped, Luna thought worriedly, as she bit her lip.

She'd finally had enough of sitting along the sidelines, letting time pass her and her friend by. Making a snap decision, she grabbed some parchment and a spill-proof quill. _They came in so so handy._

Staring at the empty yet confined space for a few minutes, inspiration finally found her and Luna began to write.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Draco sighed as he sat at his desk, a double shot espresso in hand, in his other was a stack of parchment.

‘It just keeps piling up,’ he mused, opting to put it on the desk for now. He'd address it all later. Right now, he had some coffee to get through. Probably too much of it, but alas. It helped him stay alert and with it, so he saw no issue. Sweetener made it quite bearable.

He'd always had a sweet tooth. His mother would scold him something wild were she to see him now.

Draco couldn't help the smirk that came up on his face.

As he went to grab another beverage, he stopped. An envelope was peeking out from within the stack of parchments he had recently moved.

'I wonder when this came in?’ he muttered questioningly. Seeing the writing of his colleague Luna on the front, his eyebrows rose.

Shrugging, he placed his coffee cup down and opened the parchment up.

As he read the contents, his eyebrows rose even higher.

_Granger...worried...glamors...not coping….going on for months…something is off…._

Granger. Using glamours. Then the ramifications of that sunk in and his eyes bugged.

_What? Granger had been using glamours for the past few months? For…._

That would mean.. the silly woman, if she kept working herself like she did, she'd likely end up in a coma because of overusing her magic!

Luna wanted him to intervene somehow, but how? There was a reason people had once called her 'Loony’ back in their school days…. It was well known that he and Granger had never exactly been friends back then. Although…. That was then. What about now? Would things be different, now? It had been four years since the war had come to an end. Voldemort had lost, although it had been close.

Bringing his thoughts back to the woman at hand, his face grew pensive. Him, help though? How?

He shoved the letter away and forced himself to focus on some extra work he still needed to get through. Looking outside, he sighed. It must have been after seven by now; and he'd arrived _early._ Again. Ugh.

The words on the parchment kept finding their way to the front of Draco's thoughts; _'I worry greatly for her Draco, she looks like she is just going through the motions. On the outside she looks fine, but once I look closely at her, she's skin and bone. Her eyes are always bloodshot and she has very heavy bags under them. She looks to have lost a lot of weight as well…’_

But the more he pondered the likelihood of it all, some odd pieces did start to fit together. Granger _was_ known for staying well past the general clock-out time at work...

He stood up so quick he nearly sent his chair toppling.

Walking to Granger's office certainly felt odd, despite it not being the first time he had done so.

He raised his hand, about to knock on the door when he stopped. What was he doing? He could just _walk_ in. Shaking his head, he stopped still. Opting to cast a silencio on the door instead, he opened it and sighed at the sight that greeted him.

Granger was asleep. Merlin. Perhaps what Luna had written was true after all.

_Or it could just be a coincidence… That’s right, just a coincidence._

Shrugging his traitorous thoughts away, he pushed the door until it was ajar and looked over at the brunette. It was strange to see her so unguarded, though. He was used to them trading banter back and forth, but for him to be greeted with a quiet, snoozing Granger…. Huh.

In a spur-of-the-moment decision, he shrugged off his black coat, transfigured it into a warm blanket and examined it. His skills were still good then, he mused. He walked over to Hermione all set to drape it over her when he heard a soft intelligible mumble. She moved a little, nestling further into the gap inside her arms. This had, unknownst to Hermione's sleeping form, resulted in her somewhat-tamed mane moving away from her left cheek.

Her glamours were down, having finally given up the ghost.

She was _exposed_.

Draco was stunned into silence and had to occlude heavily to calm himself.

Luna had been _right_ ! Hermione’s cheekbones were showing clearly, showing signs of little sustenance and she looked so _tired._ Merlin. Draco was immediately on high alert, knowing what constant glamour usage could do to a person.

He had used glamours back in sixth year after all, but never for over twelve hours, let alone every single day. In his case, the taxing repercussions from that had been enough to put him off anything past occasional usage. The drain on a person’s core was horrendous so he could only imagine how Granger was feeling. It was no wonder to Draco that the brunette was currently deeply asleep.

Staring at her for a little while more, he shook himself out of his trance and gently draped the blanket over her shoulders, tucking it in around her arms and in the collar of her blouse. Backing away slowly as though burned, he stopped near the doorway.

_There, that should be good._

She hadn’t stirred. Thank Merlin.

He decided to wave his wand about in a casual gesture, removing his magical signature from the office. Making sure to recast a _silencio_ on the door again, he closed it and walked away, but not before he cancelled the charm.

He needed to think.

His thoughts were still clouded by Hermione’s sleeping face, from the moment he left the Ministry until he let sleep claim him later that night.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.

Hermione couldn’t sleep. She was sat in bed, watching the night sky change colours from time to time. Cold flashes still occasionally working their way down her body. She shuddered.

Someone _knew_ , but who? Who, who, who, who?! No-one was meant to find out! This was for her to go through alone, and now that someone knew about her glamours and...about _her_ . This was bad, very bad. Grabbing a stray pillow from her bed, she buried her face into it - tightly - and _screamed._

‘Fuck.’

_Hermione woke up to the sound of the magical intercom system, spelled to hurry its employees out of the building at certain times of the day._

_‘Will all employees please start to pack their belongings away for the day, I repeat…’_

Hang on, what? _Her eyes shot open almost comically wide as she took in her surroundings, then moaned in dread as she realised her glamours had fallen. Then, she was aware of the black coat which had fallen onto her feet._

_‘What’s with this?’ She asked. Almost laughing at the obvious lack of a reply._

_And then it hit her, someone must have come by to talk to her about something and seen her asleep._

_Wait. She had been asleep, so she’d obviously let her guard down at least for a while. But she’d actually gone and fallen asleep. Sleeping. At work. On the job! This was bad. On top of that, her glamours had fallen and someone_ saw _her in that state. Shite! Merlin’s beard, Snuck's droppings!_

_Conjuring a small pocket mirror, Hermione smiled at how she still had the knack with her transfiguration skills. Opening it, she glanced at her pale reflection. Seeing her face grimace, she sighed resignedly as she snapped the compact shut and stowed it away in her pocket._

_Applying a mild glamour to her person, Hermione grabbed her belongings including the mysterious coat - she’d think about all this later - she headed to the atrium to floo home. But not before she’d waved her wand and muttered a charm that sent said coat to a space in the Ministry where missings objects went; seemingly to stay there forever._

_With that done, she floo’d home and immediately made herself a basic meal. Busy; she needed to keep herself busy. Chopping vegetables and ingredients, she set about making herself something that’d knock the socks off of her hunger pangs._

_As Hermione sat down on the sofa with her meal, her mind wandered. She still couldn’t believe that someone had come across her with her guard down. The last time that had happened, when she’d been vulnerable…. She didn’t want to think about it._

_Trying to block out the thoughts and images assaulting her mind, she couldn’t stop the tears that cascaded down her face, with no sign of stopping anytime soon._

_‘Harry, Ron, Ginny…’_

The morning had made its appearance and Hermione couldn’t be more angry about that. She wanted the night to stay forever so she could just hide away and forget the world.

Anything but this, she cursed as she once again greeted her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She looked worse this time, though. As if she had aged ten years in just a day. Pfft. Perhaps she had and it would be just her luck.

‘I’ll probably die from aging dramatically or something the way things are going. I wonder if that could be put on my tombstone….’

Leaving the bathroom and walking over to her walk-in wardrobe, she browsed through her outfits. Picking an outfit that was not too drab or dare she say, revealing, her mouth was set in grim determination.

‘Ugh.’ She moaned disappointedly as she got into her work clothes. As she put on her shiny dolly shoes, the same thoughts kept recurring, bouncing from one side of her brain to another. She didn’t want to do this. She could not be arsed. If she saw the smug face of Percy again, or if Malfoy said something irritating. Heck, she didn’t even feel like taking a few steps out of the house. In fact she couldn’t think of anything worse at this point in time.

‘Showtime, Hermione.’ She rolled her eyes at the ceiling as she walked to her fireplace.

Going through the motions. Saying good morning. Smiling at folk who passed her by, and she them. Sitting at her desk and for once, not immediately getting into her projects on _lesser creature_ legislation and Merlin-knows-what-else.

‘Coffee, Granger?’ Came a voice from the doorway.

Hermione’s head snapped up. ‘Malfoy? Why are you here?’

‘Well I was on my way to my office when I saw you earlier and I couldn’t help but initially think you were one of those...what do those muggles call them, zo...zombies?’ Draco fought the urge to roll his eyes at Hermione’s right-hand twitching, as though she wanted to stick up her hand, and interject.

‘Yeah, zombies. When you’re really tired you walk differently, and you look as though you’ve not slept in a week. Did you have a fallout with one of your girlfriends or is there trouble in paradise, Granger? Anyway, I thought you could do with one of these...’ Draco carried on, holding a coffee toward her.

‘No, there’s no trouble in paradise, Malfoy. And did you just say I reminded you of a zombie? No, wait, actually…. Don’t finish that sentence,’ she muttered.

‘Scratch that,’ Hermione muttered, looking at Draco only to be taken back by there being a grin on his face.

‘I’ll have that coffee, then.’

Handing the coffee over to Hermione, Draco couldn’t resist.

‘Aw, Granger. I got you a coffee, you could be thankful you know. Merlin…’

Hermione stopped sipping her coffee and grimaced.

‘I would be thankful…. Ugh, how can you even drink coffee unsweetened?’ Making a face, she waved her wand, conjuring some sugar. She couldn’t help but grin wryly at the sight of conjured sugar pouring out like a tiny waterfall into the cup. Hermione may have been raised by parents but she couldn’t deny drinks tasted that bit nicer, with the addition of sugar.

‘Perfect. Thank you, Malfoy.’

Looking over at her as she sipped at her coffee contentedly, Draco replied. ‘You’re welcome, Granger. Just thought it’d help eradicate the zombie frequenting the Ministry-’

Whatever he was about to say died as he received a playful nudge in the side from the brunette witch in-front of him.

‘Merlin Granger you could kill a man with that!’ He winced dramatically and Hermione rolled her eyes, mirth visible in them.

_Step one of the Help Granger Out plan….complete._

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Over the next few months, Luna had noticed Hermione’s complexion improve. She’d gained some much-needed weight and her eyes didn’t look as haunted now. There were still shadows present, but they frequented her friend much less nowadays, Luna noted with relief.

Another thing which had become apparently recently was that Hermione was no longer affected by pesky Wrackspurts, and she was in love, too.

 _How nice must that be,_ Luna pondered, a smile playing about her face, as she absentmindedly fiddled with some of her pale-blonde locks.

All in all, Luna was thankful she took a risk and followed her instincts; things seemed to have worked themselves out quite nicely. and by taking the intervention she did - she realised the full weight of her actions and was quite pleased with herself for likely saving Hermione’s life.

Luna couldn’t help giggling at the absurdity of it all, she’d actually saved her friend’s life. Anyone under the pressure that Hermione put herself under, or did put herself under, would likely have cracked. But Hermione lasted longer than she thought possible, and now she had someone to support her. And maybe something more for her curly-haired friend. She wasn’t able to help the few tears that ran down her face.

 _If anyone needed love, it was Hermione. She’d certainly been through too much, and all that in just one lifetime, too._ Luna smiled at the good fortune shining down today; including the fairies, she could see fluttering about in the near vicinity.  

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione smiled; for the first time in a long time, she felt strangely positive about how the day would play out. It was not so long ago that she and Draco rarely spoke; only trading the odd barb back and forth, but now… something had changed. The days where they’d dithered and danced the line between fellow workers and dare she think, friends, had passed them by.

As time went on and they got to know each other, the pair discovered they had many interests in common. They’d share drinks with one another, followed by their work breaks; even walks to apparition points or to the local parks.

At the start, the reasons for time they spent with one another would be peppered with excuses…

‘I came across a book I thought you might be interested in,’ from an eager Hermione, or a ‘that magical cafe released a new line of flavoured coffees, so I got one of each….’ from a Draco determined not to be caught looking so darned _invested_ , and….

Eventually, the time they’d spend with one another wasn’t hidden beneath excuses or coincidences, and they had to admit something was forming, bubbling below the surface.

Hermione had been sat on a bench in the nearby park, _casually_ looking around and was one-hundred-percent _not_ wondering where Draco was when she heard a familiar voice.

‘Hermione! Sorry, I’m late, I had some business to attend to at home, is everything okay? Are _you_ okay?’

‘So many questions,’ she laughed in response, ‘I’m very much okay Draco, I haven’t long been here myself.’ Hermione couldn’t help smiling in Draco’s direction, and it was then that her breath caught.

Draco was dressed in a casual grey button up flannel top with a dark pair of denim jeans, including a very smart pair of brogues, indeed. His hair was not looking so harsh nowadays as kept the back relatively short, but when it came to the front he had a fringe that settled naturally above his right eye. It wasn’t those factors which caught Hermione’s attention however, but the face. His eyes were the softest of icy greys and they were easy to get lost into; that was precisely what Hermione proceeded to do.

_Mum, Dad, I think I’m in….love, with this man._

She was bought back to Earth by the richest laugh she’d ever heard.

‘Er….Hermione? Are you sure you are okay? I...bought some fruit coolers, this one’s peach and raspberry and it’s charmed to stay cool as well.’ Draco smiled as he handed the drink over to Hermione.

Hermione startled and shook her head briefly, followed by a nod.

‘Ah, yes thank you Draco, I’m fine. Just away with the fairies,’ she laughed, taking the proffered drink from Draco’s hands.

‘Don’t let Luna hear you say that now,’ Draco laughed. Sitting down beside Hermione, the pair looked over at the surroundings. The park they frequented was rather lovely, they both couldn’t help but agree on that. It was the first thing they came to agree on with one another outside of work.

Draco grinned lazily at Hermione, who for once found herself unable to hide a blush. Chuckling, he took a bit of a chance and put an arm around the curly-haired witch, who he was happy to observe was looking much better in herself nowadays.

Hermione felt her face heat up and she briefly froze, before leaning into the man beside her.

‘Draco, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask for a while now,’ Hermione asked, glancing up at Draco.

‘Hmm? Sure, what’s that, Mia?’

‘That day in the office with the blanket….it was you wasn’t it Draco?’

Next to Hermione, Draco was fighting the urge to stiffen.

‘If I were to say it was me, what then?’

Hermione thought this over for a while, closing her eyes as she did so. Opening them again, she sat upright. Maintaining contact with Draco, she leaned in slightly.

‘I’d...have to say thank-you. You, you see. You saved me, Draco more than you’ll ever, ever know, Draco.’ Closing the gap between them, Hermione left a gentle kiss on Draco’s lips.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione sighed as she turned over in bed and glanced at the calendar stuck to her wall, it was now the middle of June. The date was of no significance. It was summer, and all she could think of as she looked outside her window was that today was going to be a good day. She could just _tell_.

She closed her mind and let it wander.

The next thing she knew, she was surrounded by tall trees and assaulted by the smell of the earth, it was almost too much. All those memories of horcrux hunting, the laughter, camaraderie and the tears. Shoving _those_ thoughts to one side, she blinked. After some time she noticed she wasn’t alone. A young man just over the cusp of adulthood was stood a fair distance away from her, scruffy jet black hair and round, cracked glasses were his standout features.

‘Harry!’ Hermione’s body moved before she was aware of it - and then - a warm, familiar embrace. Except it wasn’t that warm and the embrace felt like the clutches of death. She froze.

‘Oh Merlin no no nononono Harry not again no…..’ Shuddering, she fought the urge to throw up. As this was happening, the solid feeling of a body had changed to a cold, smoky presence and Hermione truly felt trapped.

Tears were running down her face. Snot was coming out through her nose, it was anything but a classy look but this was far from her worries right now. Right now, she had to make sure she didn’t _die_ here, she couldn’t - she couldn’t.

Thrashing against the unknown entity, she struggled to reach her wand, except it wasn’t there and nor was her holster and then-

‘....up’

_What?_

‘-ease wake up!’

Hermione was now in a state of panic, utterly lost as to where this sound was coming from-

Suddenly this ethereal world dissolved - no - broke into endless shards, never to be fixed; and she was jolted back into consciousness.

‘Hermione’, a low voice whispered. Realising she wasn't alone, she jolted, only to be held by soft but firm familiar hands. A warm body was wrapped around her in reassurance.

 _Wait a minute…._ Oh.

‘Draco, oh Draco. It- I.. Awful….so awful….’

‘Shh, love. It’s okay, I’m here. Hermione…’ Slowly Hermione felt herself become more aware of her surroundings, she pulled away from the warm embrace and blinked a few times.

The duvet, The familiar smell of aftershave. That flipping calendar. Her recently-accquired familiar Snucks was curled up on her desk chair, his eyes flickering.

‘Draco…’ blinking fast to rid herself of any tears forming, she settled on staring into his pale icy greys.

Feeling his hands rest on her back and then move to cup her face in a tender gesture, she gradually became aware of her slowing heartbeat.

‘It’s okay 'Mia, you're safe and I've got you.’ Came a low whisper that made her heart sing. Trying not to feel silly for her actions just now, she looked up into Draco's eyes and leaned closer until their foreheads were touching.

“I know, Draco”. The phrase kept reverberating around her head and despite her not really knowing - not yet anyway - she hoped that would change. The man beside her had been with her through thick and thin ever since - well, the war came to an end. She just hadn't known it then.

Grabbing Dracos’ hands with hers, the weight on her shoulders and in her heart became just a touch lighter.

 


End file.
